WONDERS WANDER

Barrio Malasaña, known by Madrid residents as Maravillas (wonders), was once the countercultural hub of La Movida Madrileña and now a hip and trendy place with tourists. Departing from this rebellious past, Wonders Wander, a four episode mobi-web-serial, takes the wonders out of Malasaña to explore off-the-mainstream nouveau queer generation that includes refugees, migrants, functional diversity, transfeminista, transfeminism, open family, subversive motherhoods, sustainable living, and the rise of auto-defense practices for self-empowerment. Wonders Wander  tracks with its GPS guided city-walks sites of documented homo-trans-phobic attacks that extend to peripheral Madrid. Along the way, Wonders Wander’s four episodes, filmed respectively at Lavapies in Centro, Vaciador in Carabanchel, La Dragona in Ciudad Lineal and 12 towers in Vallecas, are embedded for viewing and download on site. With a magic realism twist and fantasia narratives, the four movie episodes, titled “With witches, we move”, “As the wheels meet”, “You are mine, only mine”, “Understand?” recount tales of queer resistance with relentless defiance, seductive sensuality and vigorous passion.

Shu Lea Cheang is a multimedia artist working in the field of net-based installation, social interface and film production.